There was something refreshing about having a clear goal. The million possibilities and problems of how to manage Bakuda, the ABB, the city's cape community, and all the aftermath of the previous night could be pushed aside in favor of a set of clear obstacles between me and my goal.
Weld was somewhere in the bay. I needed to be able to operate in the ocean. I needed to be able to locate him. I needed to be able to retrieve him. And I needed to be able to deal with any problems that had prevented him from making his way to shore.
The Celestial forge missed a connection to the Knowledge constellation as I considered the problems before me. Taking them one thing at a time the first problem was operating in water. I didn't have any technology specifically intended for aquatic use. There were equipment and concepts that were easy enough to apply to the concept, and frankly I could probably have gotten by with nothing but the armor set that came with Class:Engineer. However, I had a much better option.
Actually I had a lot of options. My power had rapidly gone from incredibly limited to an abundance of possibilities. Still, there were areas of it where I hadn't even begun to scratch the surface. A big reason for the focus on general upgrades was to let me start leveraging the full potential of my power.
I needed to get a start on this, and that meant design and planning. I slipped into my neural interface and felt my awareness spread and my thoughts accelerate. I took some time for a quick check on Fleet and Survey. I'd need their help on this mission, so I had to make sure their development was on track and progressing stably.
The copies of Fleet running in the duplicated motoroids had been used to assist with upgrades to the workshop. Not the most technical work, but there was a significant increase in spatial awareness and manual dexterity. Navigation of restricted environments would be a lot easier. The sudden appearance and disappearance of the copies was something the A.I. was having difficulty processing, but unlike Survey, Fleet seemed to be able to ignore details that were not relevant to current objectives. While that may indicate a more limited development it would actually provide a lot of resistance against the kind of logical paradoxes that could prove disastrous for electronic intelligences.
It might sound silly, but the ability to say 'Fuck It' and ignore conflicting information is a fairly advanced and very human mental trait, and one that Survey was not quite able to grasp.
Unlike Fleet's irreverent acceptance of the situation, Survey was making every attempt to process and understand what was happening in the workshop. Every time something was encountered without an explanation that could be drawn from historical data or network research it was added to an ever mounting pile of computational issues that were waiting to be addressed. I did what I could to clarify any unknowns concerning technological principles, but that barely made a dent in the pile.
Pretty much all of the remainder either involved magic or fiat based effects. The magic at least had detectable effects and triggers that allowed some analysis. Trying to tie any physical mechanism to fiat supported aspects of my power was a lost cause. I worked to clarify what I could, but there were some issues with how my power worked that an information gathering A.I. would always have problems with.
I scheduled the next set of updates based on my more recent acquisitions from the Celestial Forge, then got to work. The workshop wasn't fully networked yet, much less automated, so the main advantage of the neural connection was expanded technical awareness and accelerated thought. I could hold any blueprint perfectly in my mind, but this space made that design process both easier and faster.
While I worked I dispatched Survey to research Weld. The exact details of most cape's powers and limitations weren't generally publicly announced, but the Protectorate liked press releases and promotional material. Combined with him being pretty well known in my understanding and there should be enough information to figure out how to approach and retrieve him.
Within a few minutes of real-time I was done, once again benefiting from my powers allowing factor work and the assistance of an entire design team. As I disconnected from the system I was ready to dive into my preparations, but the consequences of coming straight from a session of life fiber training hit me in the gut and I found myself once again digging into a pile of oversized food with the gusto of a cartoon character.
It was the kind of binge that would have been excessive at a professional eating competition and I had been performing it several times an hour for most of the day. The food was delicious, perfectly prepared and thanks to my crafting powers would never spoil or go off in any way. I would say that made it tolerable to push through the quantity I needed, but serious life fiber exposure left me hungry enough that I would probably have dove into any food-like product that presented itself.
I wasn't certain, but I think the hunger level from exposure was diminishing slightly. It would make sense that the most dramatic nutritional needs would be at the start of the exposure. Frankly, I was still just amazed that my body could physically contain this much food.
Once my feasting session was concluded and it no longer felt like a hole was being drilled in my stomach I made my way to the Alchemist Laboratory and downed another duplication potion. I waited while the pair of duplicates stepped out, once again not immediately recognizing my new body shape when seeing it from the outside. I wondered how long that would last. I remembered a similar reaction to myself when I started running, but that built up over months, not hours.
"Okay, everyone knows what they're doing?"
The duplicates glanced between themselves, then down at the abbreviated costume they were still wearing. "Uh, yeah. But couldn't you have waited until you finished the new costume before you used the potion?"
"What?" My voice was dripping with fake offence and surprise. "Why, that would waste precious time. I would never want to force versions of myself into an outfit they were uncomfortable with. What kind of person would do that?"
That got me some dark looks in response, but the duplicates split off to start work. I would probably pay for that later, likely in the same vein as what had been happening with all of the 20% time. There was probably some complicated psychological term for how my duplicates and I were treating each other. Not exactly self-abuse, but probably a gentler version of that idea. I was lucky that it seemed to be limited to unsanctioned experiments, inconvenient projects, and stylish additions.
Even as I made my way to the textile area I could see little flourishes in designs, new stairways added out of nowhere, arches and railings that were both striking and in theme with the rest of the workshop. I even had signposts, floor markings, and, though I have no idea which duplicate was cheeky enough to do it, one of those mall maps complete with the 'You are Here' marker.
All of this was a consequence of that new alchemy ability. Transmutation was incredible on its own, but with my skill level attempting this kind of work would have produced crude, flaky structures. Furthermore building up this much would have pulled matter out of the surrounding areas, leaving gulfs and craters scarring the workshop. With my powers supporting it a useful but limited ability was functioning at a masterful level with more matter generated than was taken and the end results being of impeccable construction at minimum. I doubted I would ever see that crude, flakey alchemical transmutation that the basic skill level produced.
All the result of combined powers adding up to more than their individual components. Which was also the reason I was on my way to produce a new costume. My old one would repair itself in two days, and I was easily capable of fixing it myself. But that would be a step back at this point. Since I had made that costume I had acquired new powers that would let me advance every aspect of its design.
Beauty in the Arts would let me produce more striking clothing than I possibly could before. Armourer, though specialized mostly in heavier armor, had numerous techniques for working highly durable and protective clothing. Masterwork Craftsman greatly improved the quality of all of my work. The Workshop upgrade gave me access to new materials and fabrication techniques. Tailor Made removed all time requirements from the design process, letting me produce impeccable quality almost instantly. Don't Need a Team allowed me to make something that would require independent attention from multiple craftsmen on my own. With the help of They're Like Legoes, Right? the components of the costume could be assembled individually with no drawbacks in terms of appearance or durability. Finally, Advanced Materials meant multiple space age and experimental polymers could be combined to optimum effect.
It was the same principle that had been happening everywhere else in my workshop, the same principle my duplicates were using right this moment, and had been applying all afternoon. Upgrades and advancements beyond simple advanced technology, but using the supporting powers of the Celestial Forge to produce something beyond what I would be able to make with even the best materials and equipment otherwise.
That principle was on full display when I entered Garment's claimed domain of textile machinery. Unlike our previous project I wasn't working to produce a stunning item of clothing for the purposes of amazing everyone who looked at it. This was a combat uniform. It had unique and precise requirements. Material chosen to be permeable to life fiber energy, resistant to chemicals and damage, mobile enough to fight in without presenting the possibility of snagging or getting caught during a fight. Easy access to all of my equipment. Integrated placement of defensive items with, thanks to modular design, easy adjustment for the integration of new equipment and technology.
When I was done the costume looked sleek and dangerous while still being incredibly stylish. It made my previous effort look sophomorish, and that was just from a surface level assessment without understanding of the deeper changes. The material composition was nothing like what had been present before. Every piece, every seam, was a separate component, but blended completely into a smooth whole, so well integrated it may as well have been formed as a single object. The design was similar enough to be recognized as belonging to the same cape who had fought at the storage yard, but the improvement was clear.
With my immaculate costume I made my way to the Laboratorium once more. After Garment had returned the life fibers to the spool and the stasis field was activated the white gloves finally peeled themselves off my hands, flowing inside out until there were a pair of hands pressed against mine. They pulled back and took the waiting gown from the still awkwardly hanging cyber skull, who seemed not to have moved since taking the item hours ago. As Garment got dressed the skull seemed struck with indecision before remembering what it was actually supposed to be doing and joining in the work.
While Garment got dressed in her incredible gown I checked over the results from the Laboratorium. There was a huge amount of information from the tinker tech scans that I would have to dig through when I got back. Setting up a link to the neural interface would be a godsend there. Likewise I should probably scan those ragnite notes and medical books into the system. I wouldn't be running out of storage any time soon and it just made more sense to process information at the best rate I could. I would need to set up destructive testing using duplicated equipment, then try repairing some of Leet's gear, though I wanted a good picture of its starting state before I messed with it using one of my powers.
Finally I checked on the life fibers. Their mass had increased again, up 59.186% from the start of my training and 78.806% from their initial state. I wasn't sure of the level of their development, though systems seemed to indicate a more measured response even independent of Garment's control. I knew that mental complexity would start to emerge as the life fibers grew and developed. If I was going to be leaning on them for physical training that point would probably arrive fairly soon.
Yet another thing I'd need to be ready for.
After finishing my review and changing into my new costume I exited the Laboratorium to find the cost for my little snipe at my duplicates. Clearly they didn't mind Garment's barbarian chic costume that much if they were willing to immortalize it in murals across the workshop. The one in the textile lab was actually quite tasteful, a progression of all of my costume designs from salvaged thrift store gear to its current final form. I just wish it had excluded the barbarian costume. And the truncated outfit from the first life fiber test.
The frieze that had been added to the materials lab was less appreciated. Yes, I suppose the barbarian costume did put more focus on the armor components, which was the point of the material's lab. That said the place really didn't need a series of posing renditions centering each armor plate mid image for maximum emphasis, no matter how much Garment liked it.
When I summoned my next set of duplicates we came to an unspoken agreement not to mention any of the new art projects and instead focused on finishing our preparations for Weld's retrieval. I say 'our preparations' but it was really the duplicates doing the work while I reviewed reports, amended designs, or kept up with the various projects. The Celestial Forge missed a connection to the Size constellation while I was looking over a summary of the post-blackout state of the area.
Well, post blackout might have been a generous term. While the further areas had power fully restored in a matter of hours the closer you got to Brockton Bay the greater the evident damage. Based on Survey's reports the area surrounding New Hampshire had been dark for the entire night, in some cases stretching even longer. Whatever had been done to trigger the mass blackout had caused a massive amount of damage to the electrical grid.
Even nearly a full day later power was still off or inconsistent in parts of the city, with reports suggesting it would remain so for a few days at the very least. I could see that for myself as I exited my workshop after over an hour of preparation, entering into a dark apartment with nothing but fading daylight leaking through the windows.
You know, I was really lucky I had been granted an apartment and working refrigerator and that my duplicates last night had taken the time to move all my perishables. A good deal luckier that most people, from the look of the reports.
Actually, even without the reports I could see how lucky I was as soon as I stepped out onto the street. In the distance I could see the glow of streetlights, the fading corona that colored the rapidly darkening twilight sky. But they were definitely distant. No lights in the immediate area, and as far as I could see down the street. It had the benefit of making it dead easy to find a dark alley. Well, isolated alley. Every alley was dark at the moment. This time instead of using a random door I was able to try out one of my new additions.
The adaptors for the Garage entrance unfortunately had to be used with the workshop key in order to function. It prevented me from being able to open two entrances at once. That was an ability so exploitable that I had been severely disappointed to have it swatted down. Given the extra dimensional nature of the workshop that would have let me put entrances on opposite sides of the city and had them easily linked by my workshop. If that worked then why not opposite ends of the country? Or the planet? Or the solar system? Or the galaxy?
Yeah, it was easy to see why the Celestial Forge decided that that wasn't going to be an application of my powers. The workshop was for crafting, not circumventing national or interstellar boundaries. I had to use the garage adaptors with the key in order for them to function. However, it did mean I could just point the adaptor at the sliding shutter of a disused loading dock and have it automatically open into my vehicle bay.
For the first time my motoroid was able to drive out cleanly without being awkwardly maneuvered through an entryway designed for pedestrian traffic. However, I wouldn't be taking to the streets in civilian mode. It was time to actually push the limits of my technology.
After bidding Garment goodbye I sealed the workshop and settled onto the back of the bike. The motoroid folded up over my costumed form, taking on its new armored appearance. It wasn't fully upgraded, but it was a massive improvement. New armor, systems, weapons, and technology had been introduced. With the armor around me I triggered one of the most mundane but useful of the added features.
A hand's free straw extended towards my mouth and deposited a specific portion from the motoroid's internal reservoirs. It was incredibly basic, but also meant no more nonsense of holding potion bottles in my mouth.
I swallowed the green liquid of the invisibility potion and watched both myself and the motoroid fade out of existence. After a quick confirmation of the potion's effect I signaled Fleet, who activated the turbines and launched the armor into the fading night's sky.
Flying was incredible. This was something I'd wanted since I'd first constructed the armor. My stomach dropped to my knees from the acceleration as the ground dropped away in a nearly vertical assent. Then, with the precision of carefully developed machine learning, Fleet vectored the thrust from the turbines and launched us towards the bay.
From altitude I could see the full breadth of the city spread before me. There was a stark contrast between the lit and darkened areas. For once it wasn't exactly following the rich/poor divide, but there were definitely more dark patches in the Docks than Downtown. I had to wonder if any of that was due to damage from the previous night's bombings and near riots rather than just the initial overload.
As I left the neighborhood I could see the familiar island of light that surrounded my boxing gym. I wasn't surprised that the generator was holding up, but I was a bit disappointed it was still needed. Those people had a hard enough night previously, they didn't need another one. I made a note to check in later if everything went well on this mission.
And hopefully for once I hadn't just jinxed myself.
I reached the edge of the Docks and passed over the Boardwalk. Turbines weren't exactly quiet, so I had picked up enough altitude to avoid attracting attention. That meant I had to use the new magnification features in the Motoroid's sensors to get a closer look at the strip of light stretching across the length of the bay.
The Boardwalk was fully powered, though whether that was due to a stable reconnection to the grid or private generators I couldn't say. There was evident damage from two bombs at different points along the structure. One was a large roped off crater in the middle of the walkway. It looked like it was probably part of the first wave of blasts that had been designed to seed chaos. The second was a good distance away and had taken out the back wall of one of the higher end luxury stores. I had no idea what they actually sold, just that they had expensive watches in the window and a door that you had to be buzzed through.
Given that the store was closed I would guess it had been part of the heist raids from the ABB. There were a few other closed stores, but mostly the Boardwalk was putting on a concerted effort to remain open and functional. I don't know if that's a statement about corporate greed or the resilient spirit of the city. At the very least, people who worked there were probably grateful to avoid a disruption in their paycheck.
I soared invisibly over the bay before picking a point a good distance from both the shore and the Rig. I had to imagine the Protectorate had some level of detection systems for the water around their base and I had no desire to trip them. I didn't know how good they were, with the only safe bet being 'not good enough to find Weld'.
The failure to recover Weld was not going to reflect well on the Protectorate ENE. Rescue diving in this kind of environment wasn't an easy prospect at the best of times, and these definitely weren't the best of times. Thursday's storm had churned up the water, filling it with silt that still hadn't settled. Visibility was terrible, and regrettably visibility would be the only way to identify Weld. The bay had been in use for a very long time. There was no way to distinguish a metal person from the rest of the industrial junk down there, and given how he involuntarily fused with any metal he touched, was also probably the reason he hadn't been able to just walk out along the bottom.
With the region still recovering and the local Protectorate over stressed there's no telling when they'd be able to muster the resources to recover him. Divers might not even be enough. I can see them dredging the bay or needing to call in help from some hero with specialty powers that would bypass the issues at play.
Come to think of it, that was basically what was happening here, only the help was being volunteered instead of needing to be requested.
At my signal Fleet cut thrust and the motoroid dropped into the ocean. Altering the armor for aquatic functioning had been simple. None of the components that ran directly from magitek energy were in any way affected by immersion in water. The control system had been easily upgraded to my new standard of optical processing, and some minor precautions around the control system was all that was necessary for waterproofing. Environmentally sealing the armor had been incredibly simple, particularly with the new materials I was able to produce. Life support and air circulation systems had taken some minor work, but nothing serious.
The invisibility wore off as I took in the sights of the armor's lights piercing through the cloudy water of the bay. The armor wouldn't be exploring the ocean depths any time soon but it could more than handle the depth and pressure of the bay. I had built an emergency rebreather into my mask as well. It made the thing a bit bulky, but it would be enough for me to get to the surface if anything went wrong.
I was proud of both of these systems of underwater operation, but in truth they were nothing but fall back positions in the unlikely event that my primary option failed. I was going to try out one power that was perfect for this kind of mission, one with huge potential that I hadn't even begun to explore.
With a signal to Fleet another potion was cued for consumption. I gulped down the brackish mixture and felt the effects take hold.
One of my alchemy upgrades had greatly expanded my potion making capability, though in a way I hadn't anticipated. Natural Alchemy was not magic, it was a complicated science that used the somewhat abstract concept of natural energy to incredible effect. It wasn't the structured binding of spells to chemical form that was facilitated by Innate Talent: Alchemist or the powerful but limited potion making of Kazooie Alchemy. This was a science, the application of new and awe inspiring principles to great effect.
The infusion of natural energy, and the nature of natural energy itself, was a fascinating and complicated concept. The best medium for binding natural energy was products of nature, plants and rarely animals. That was the reason for the small collection of planters added to my alchemy area. The applications of natural energy were something else entirely. Just the idea that there was this continuous source of power flowing through the natural world ready to be tapped was revolutionary. What you could do with it was an entirely other matter.
This potion was among the most basic I could produce. My powers made sure I had made it perfectly, but a basic item made with perfection was still basic. It took the natural energy of water and infused the body with it. The brewing process had been mostly about properly extracting essences of algae and kelp, but the result was both simple and incredibly useful.
The potion would let me breathe water.
With a single push I triggered my armor's seals and pushed out into the cold water of the bay. Between my reinforcement and the thermal protection of my power infused clothing the temperature was nothing, but the real test was when I took in a breath of silty water and found it was as easy to breathe as clear air.
It was fantastic, revolutionary, and almost distracted me from the fact that I was sinking quickly. Infused with the power of the potion I could feel the water around me, not enough to give me better purchase, but enough to realize that the combination of my gear and wet clothes was completely taking my buoyancy. Fleet moved to arrest my descent, but I waved him off and reached for my next experimental item.
Natural Alchemy was related to Enchanting in the same way a number of my powers shared characteristics. I didn't know if it would reach the same heights as Enchanting had from the support of other powers, but I did know that I was tired of being surprised by the effectiveness of enchanted weapons and ready to start using that power to its full advantage.
The item I drew from my belt resembled a curled nautilus shell with a pronounced grip. I squeezed the grip and triggered an insanely complex mechanical transformation. With smooth flowing movements the spiral unfurled itself, plates sliding over precise and intricate clockwork. Piece by piece the item assembled itself, folding out to its true form.
I would never have dreamed about attempting to build collapsible weapons before my modular technology power removed all of the downsides associated with them. The mechanical process of unfolding was actually more complex than it needed to be, but provided more compact storage and actually allowed me to use the full extent of all the powers that increased my mechanical knowledge. It was probably excessively showy to do the entire process in clockwork, but that had a certain stylish appeal to me.
Over the course of a handful of seconds an elaborate cutlass unfolded itself in my hand. The sword was amazing, some of my best work to date. Probably less dangerous overall than the omni-blade, but much more stylish. The water hummed around it from the effect of the HF capacitor, adding even more of a dramatic look to the flowing curve of the blade. But I hadn't brought it because it was a masterfully built blade. I had brought it because of the elaborate rune work inscribed upon it.
Three things influenced the power of runes when applied to a weapon. The detail of the runes. The nature of the weapon. And the method of inscription. The detail of my rune work had reached heights I'd never dreamed of. I was producing incredible quality engravings unbelievably quickly to the point where I was constantly surprised by the power demonstrated. It was the other two areas I had yet to explore.
The more appropriate a weapon for the effect, the stronger the power of the effect. Initially I had thought that only referred to the scale of the weapon, but my expanded smithing knowledge had revealed how strongly the style and type of a weapon can influence its power. Unsurprisingly a cutlass was a weapon with affinity for water runes. It was also easier to wield and less cliché than building a water controlling trident. A cutlass would have strengthened water effects anyway, but the slight changes in the design, the excess smoothness, the flow in the texture of the metal, even the precise curve of the blade all amplified things. Even the transformation clockwork and other systems were fabricated to strengthen the affinity, rather than detract from it.
Incredibly, adding the mechanical transformation had actually sped up the crafting process rather than adding to it. A solid sword counted as a normal crafting, while adding mechanics to it allowed every power that influenced and accelerated mechanical construction to trigger. This included a new power received from the Time constellation just before departing the workshop, Savvy Sultan. Associated with Bling of War and Fingers of Silver, the power made my construction of any type of machine four times faster than it would otherwise be, stacking with every other acceleration power available to me. It also allowed me to operate hand tools with machine precision, which even further boosted the quality of my work.
Using modular technology I was even able to assemble the sword in pieces, benefiting from Workaholic's duplication without having extra blades or out of scale components. It was a trick I'd used on Garment's cell phone and my own computer core, and effectively negated the disadvantages of not being able to turn off my Workaholic power.
The design and detail combined would have made a powerful weapon, but there was a final aspect that could further enhance runes. I had been crafting by hand using engraving tools. Compared to trying to print or mechanically etch runes it provided decent power binding, but there were further heights possible, particularly with limitless resources. Runes carved with an engraving tool and highlighted in enamel or surface treatment were good. Runes carved with a pure diamond and traced with white gold is another matter entirely.
When the last segment fell into place the blade thrummed with power. A ripple extended through the water with a weight beyond what the senses could detect. This sword was focused entirely on elemental manipulation. It didn't generate water, or have fluid strikes, or mess with blood flow. It moved water, and did it scarily well.
With the insight provided by Maliwan Intern I could stretch this effect from throwing around waves of liquid to what would pass for full hydrokinesis. The blade thrummed as I held it dead still, and the water around me froze in place. I don't mean it turned into ice, I mean the liquid held position, silt particles locked in place and my descent to the bottom of the bay completely was halted.
With a slight movement I pulled a swell of water up from the depths, nearly launching both me and the motoroid through the surface of the water. A few more experimental swipes triggered currents and eddies, still a little difficult to control, but massively powerful. It was a heady feeling having that much influence over your environment. I elected to stop messing around and begin the search.
The first step was returning to the motoroid for another duplication potion. A pair of copies slid out of the armored robot, then opened to reveal my copies. The costume looked even more impressive than I thought, particularly with the coat flickering in the slight current passively generated by the copies of the cutlass. One of the duplicates took a light swipe with the blade, sending himself upwards in a tight spin.
"Holy crap this is cool."
He could speak normally, but his voice was echoey and distant in the water.
"Uh, guys? Potion side effects." The second gestured to his face, then to us. I swam closer and saw what he was talking about. Natural Alchemy specialized in transformations. While this wasn't as extreme as some of what it was capable of, it seemed there was no level that wouldn't have some physical effect. The duplicate's eyes were a bright, faintly luminous blue instead of my normal brown. It wasn't severe, but it was noticeable. It seemed like this branch of alchemy had traded any sense of subtlety for power and versatility.
"I think it looks good." The first duplicate was hanging upside down in the water while using his cutlass to shift back and forth.
"Ok, this doesn't matter. It's temporary." Or I hoped it was. And if it wasn't I was confident I could come up with another potion to reverse the effect. "You ready to start the search?"
They each nodded and began drawing small crystal modules from their belts. One of the first things I did in preparation for this endeavor was both upgrade and thoroughly jailbreak my omni-tool. The admittedly decently advanced processors had been torn out and completely replaced with the best optical computing technology available to me. The interface, reserves, and powersource had all been overhauled. My weapon modification powers came into play in both improvements and customizations.
Rather than the basic arrangement of options I entered the storage facility with I had a full set of abilities from cryonic blasts to ammunition enhancement to construction of autonomous turrets. That said, there were still some items beyond the fabrication abilities of an omni-tool. That would be a problem for anyone without my modular technology powers. As such I could assemble the components I needed in my workshop and fabricate the rest in the field.
I watched as advanced drone bodies were fabricated around fist sized processing cores dispersed from the duplicates. Each core was able to run a truncated version of Survey with enough power to follow the search pattern and scan the ocean debris in detail. I was keeping my own cores in reserve so they'd be available for the next run of copies. We each pulled up our omni-tools and coordinated the search, each copy fanning out in a spiral while I acted as a mostly stationary command center.
The pattern also addressed the issue of communication under water. It would be possible to send signals through sonar, but not with the level of encryption or discretion I wanted. In the timeframe available I hadn't been able to build a subspace transponder or quantum entanglement communicator. With the drones acting as relays I could overcome the pathetic signal range possible for EMF through salt water. With ten drones chained I could cover a circle with a 200 meter radius before hitting the limit of signal range and duration.
It was a sound and effective search pattern. It was also incredibly boring. I ended up slightly above the disgusting junk strewn floor of the bay as my copies lead their squads of drones in a search pattern, making sure to tell me how awesome it was to swim by the power of an enchanted sword. I had nothing to do but double check reports, confirm results, and occasional play around with the hydrokinetic power of my cutlass. That said, given the amount of silt even a slight swing could stir up I ended up holding off that particular endeavor.
The only exciting part involved swimming to the next search coordinate after the repeated unsuccessful searches. I had divided the bay into a set of minimally overlapping circles for my search grid, and after each failure to locate Weld I moved to the next coordinates. At this point I was at least able to try out all the tricks my duplicates had spent the previous search bragging about.
The cutlass had a basic mass field, assembled from trace amounts of ezzo and an internal power source. Using it I could either decrease the mass of the blade for faster strikes or increase it for heavier impact. I was working on a system that would automatically increase mass upon impact, but that was still a work in progress. I knew that weapon size influenced the effect of its runes. I didn't realize that applied to mass as well.
The nature of the water control was highly dependent on the effective mass of the blade. A heavier blade has vastly more power, though less precision, creating great flows of liquid. Ramping down the mass gave lightning fast jets with incredible precision. Using it to move through the water essentially provided a slipstream. It was like riding a waterslide of your own design, and entertaining enough that I started to dread the arrival of the next grid point.
The search took longer than I thought it would and was starting to extend into the grid points further from the shore. Weld had clearly covered a lot of ground after he'd fallen from the Rig, but obviously hadn't picked the right direction when he started walking. The bay was completely open on the east side and if Weld had wandered out into the Atlantic there was no telling how long it would take to find him.
The answer, as it turned out, was three hours and twenty eight minutes. Nineteen duplication potions and one refresh of my water breathing potion after I started getting short of breath. Also, one missed connection to the Size constellation of the Celestial Forge. After all that, a drone finally spotted Weld, just beyond the edge of the bay and fused with a mess of rusting marine equipment.
I dispatched the rest of the drones and set off for his location. I was a bit worried about giving away my duplicates, so I sent them off out of sight. It turned out to be completely unnecessary. Weld was not in the most observant state. In fact he was nearly catatonic.
From the look of things he had been through Hell. Various pieces of broken objects were peppering his body, everything from chains to wire to regular trash. I could even recognize some of the alloy of the Rig still not absorbed by his body. He was at the bottom of a slight slope on the ocean floor and appeared to have fallen and ended up stuck in an anchor, the remains of a shipping container, and for some reason an old bicycle.
There was no reaction when I approached him. His eyes twitched slightly in the light from my drone but nothing more. Calling out his name didn't get much of a response either, maybe a slight shift of what passed for his facial muscles, but nothing else.
This was about as bad as I could have anticipated. It didn't help that it was deep, murky, and pitch black outside the light of my drones. I'm not even sure Weld could speak in this kind of environment.
I looked down at my cutlass. I had an idea. I'm not sure if it was a good idea, or just an attempt to show off. The fact was it should at least make it so Weld could talk. If I tried to haul him out of here without making contact I didn't know what could happen, both during the trip and upon arrival.
I lifted up my blade and activated the mass field to its highest power. I could immediately feel the strain in my muscles as the blade's weight multiplied dramatically. With every ounce of power I could muster I pulled the sword in a spiral around me. Slowly the water began to rotate. It swirled faster and faster until it was overwhelming. The duplicated drones were carried away, leaving only my motoroid anchored to the sea floor. Finally, the effect I was straining for emerged.
A gap appeared in the water. Slowly a pocket of empty space appeared around the sword. It spread, a wall of rushing water dividing a tiny circle of calm at the bottom of the ocean. The maelstrom passed over Weld, reaching the limit of its power with just enough space to free the boy from the ocean. Finally I drove the cutlass into the sea floor. The oblong dome of rotating water continued to spin, creating a tiny pocket of clear space lit only by my motoroid.
There was a gasp as Weld filled what passed for his lungs. I knew he didn't need to breathe, but apparently the sensation was important to him. I slowly approached as he sucked in long deep breaths.
"Weld? I'm here to help. Are you alright?"
I waited in the shadowy pocket of water listening to the deep breaths of the boy and the faint rushing of the water around us. Finally, Weld spoke a single word.
"Music."
"Music?" I asked. "You want music? Seriously?"
"Helps." The second word seemed to take the last of his energy and he fell back into deep breathing again.
I awkwardly held up my omni-tool. Given the immense amount of storage and processing power this thing had you'd think it would have an entire media library on it. I could probably hold the entire sum of human recorded audio as an afterthought in the buffer memory. Unfortunately I hadn't. I'd been so focused on technical advantages, building weapons and equipment, that I hadn't taken any time to even transfer the music stored on my terrible human laptop.
I committed a quarter for the jar as I dug through the data I did have in an effort to find something that would work. At this point I'd take a commercial jingle. Anything would do.
I immediately reevaluated my previous statement when I found the only recorded music on my omni-tool. Looking over at the mutilated and distressed boy I knew I had to help him. I was just seriously considering if my own tone deaf singing would be a better alternative to this.
Finally I grit my teeth, turned away, and activated the playback.
The underwater ambiance gave the Laboratorium work hymn an even more haunting quality. As an arbitrary documenting exercise Survey had pieced together the entire recording with all the 'Ave Imperator' parts edited out, along with a proposed translation that was even worse than my limited understanding of the spoken language.
It took me a while to work up the courage to see how Weld was reacting to it. To my surprise he seemed to be gradually coming back to himself. It started with an almost contemplative expression, then he started following the rhythm of the music with the one hand free of the twisted mess around him. His breathing steadied, then relaxed. Finally he spoke.
"That's interesting." He took some more time to listen to the song. "The melodies are almost like something from Thomas Tallis, but there were other elements to it I've never heard before. What language is that?"
I shrugged. "Not really sure." I took a moment before continuing. "You know a lot about music?"
He nodded as much as his predicament would allow. "Don't really sleep, so I use it to unwind, center, deal with stress." He glanced around at his situation. "Uh, stress like this."
"Right." I tried to put some humor into my voice.
Weld took another deep breath. "So I'm guessing you're that new tinker? Shaker?" He glanced at my motoroid. "Tinker."
I nodded. "Name's Apeiron. Look, do you want me to cut you out of that?"
He froze for a second, then nodded frantically. "Please. Uh, I absorb metal that touches me. Some of this, it's close enough to count."
"Don't worry. I have a carbide blade. It can handle this without risking getting stuck in you."
"Right." His eyes darted across the wreckage. "Will that be enough..."
He fell silent as he saw the glowing orange blade extend from my pistol. One of my duplicates had resized the base form to prevent any more giant sword nonsense. With the HF capacitor engaged and combined with the wind runes and superheated blade the wreckage practically vanished before the edge of the sword.
Weld was right about the absorption. When metal contacted it slowly started integrating into his body. Not just into but part of. The metal that counted as Weld slowly spread out through whatever was touching him. It was similar to some nanite effects I was familiar with, but entirely driven by powers and atypical biology.
Between that knowledge and my Advanced Materials power I was able to map out the edges of the affected areas and shave them back. It was kind of the equivalent of a haircut or trimming fingernails. I was careful to clear away the debris as I sliced it back. Tossing it through the wall of rushing water to be swept out into the ocean.
As the more bulky portions were removed Weld started to regain some of his mobility. Slowly he was able to raise his arms, then to sit up, then finally climb to his feet. When all was done he seemed immensely relieved, though he still looked terrible.
Even with the excess material cut away he was still covered in half absorbed ocean trash. Worse there were sections of his body completely missing, probably separated to free himself from objects he couldn't break or take with him. Even though he was finally mobile he seemed a long way from collecting himself.
"Hey, do you want to take a minute? Let things settle a bit?"
Weld stopped obsessively checking the status of his body, then slowly nodded. "Uh, yeah. Good idea." His eyes drifted up to the spinning dome of water. "I mean, if we're alright for a minute?"
"We'll be fine." I pulled up my omni-tool, triggering a significant reaction from the cape. The sword had enough power to sustain this effect for days. Heat buildup would render that impossible at some point, but it would take hours before the functionality of the mass field would be affected. "Got ages of time."
"Right." He kicked his foot awkwardly and paced slightly on the silty ocean floor.
"Look, let me get us some seats." I started shifting through stored arrays in my omni-tool's memory.
Weld glanced at my motoroid. "I have trouble with chairs, and with the metal thing..."
"Right, I've got it covered." The omni-tool fabricated a transmutation array onto my hand and I brought it down to the ground. The silt was easy enough to deconstruct and reassemble into one of the more solid types of rock. The comparatively small amount of ground rose up, multiplied by my power, into a pair of heavy granite benches.
Since I was engaging in whims, I decided the space could use some more lighting than the headlights of my motoroid and began forming a set of stone pillars around the edge of the water wall. A triggered command from my omni-tool sent a full set of drones flying out to rest on top of them like lanterns. The orange glow from the drones shifted the space to a much warmer light than the harsh headlights. I signaled Fleet to power down the motoroid lights as Survey maximized the glow from the drones.
Weld took a few moments to gaze over the floating drones, the pillars, and benches, even running his hand across them slowly.
"You okay?"
He nodded. "Yeah, just trying to make sure I didn't have some kind of psychotic break at the bottom of the ocean that's making me imagine all of this."
I snorted. "You could probably do better than this for a mental breakdown."
He grinned. "Maybe. I'd probably have more music variety."
I suddenly realized the hymn had been looping and quickly cut it off. I checked on his reaction, but he waved me off with good grace. He took a moment to stretch his deformed body, then took a slow walk around the edge of the vortex, this time enjoying the range of motion rather than awkwardly shuffling.
As Weld circled around, taking time to examine the engraved workmanship of the pillars or the design of the drones I felt a connection to the Size constellation manifest. This one was called Tinkerer, primarily a repair and modification power, but with a hugely significant aspect to it. Variable Weapon Crafting. The ability to combine, shift, and alter weapons smoothly and easily. Basically everything I'd tried to do with my sword, only deliberate rather than my muddling attempt. These were shifts that could be integrated into combat, not my slow unwinding of a compact form. It was another case of technology being obsolete as soon as it was finished, though at least a minor one.
There were a few additional items that came with this power. An advanced cell phone, a weapon, some refreshing samples of energetic material. Interesting enough on its own, but secondary to the significant advancement.
With this power, almost as an entirely unmentioned feature, I had an... well, a kind of an aura. I barely understood the concept. Some kind of field extending from my body, potentially defensive or enhancive? It reacted with the energetic material and could be quantified by the cell phone, but outside of that I didn't know anything short of the fact that it was important and significant. Worn or carried items could be enhanced or reinforced by it, probably how Variable Weapons remained functional despite being complicated and delicate.
It was a huge advancement, a serious, major power unrelated to equipment in any way and also something I had to put aside completely as Weld was finally settling into a seat on the bench across from me.
"So, it's that thing..." He gestured at the cutlass. "That's doing all this?" He gestured at the dome.
I nodded. "Hydrokinetic weapon. Managed to pull the water away and clear a space for us."
He nodded "How'd you get air down here?"
"I didn't." He raised an eyebrow. I waved a hand in response. "This is water vapor. Vacuum boiled and saturated the pocket."
"Wait." He lifted his hands. "No air at all?" I nodded. "How are you breathing?"
Because it still counts as water, so my natural energy potion doesn't care. "Tinker stuff."
He gave me a hard look, then lowered his hands. "Right." He leaned back and sank a little further onto the bench. "Uh, what's happening up there anyway? Did they send you to get me?" There was a serious edge of hope to his voice.
I shook my head regretfully. This wouldn't be an easy topic, but I wasn't about to lie to him. Lying was wrong, and I also was terrible at it.
"I haven't had contact with the Protectorate or the PRT. Last I heard they weren't that well-disposed to me, so I'm keeping my space."
He nodded slowly. "Right, the thing with Panacea. I heard about that."
Yeah, from an exact transcript of everything I said.
"Yeah, from an exact transcript of everything I said."
Weld blanched, and I felt a little embarrassed over letting that slip. It had been a sore point since Tattletale had told me about it, and the words came out as soon as I thought them. Still, dancing around the issue wouldn't help. He seemed to rally fairly quickly.
"It certainly made an impact." He said it with this weird half smile that actually got a laugh from me.
I leaned back and let out a breath. "Yeah, that was a shit show. I did not expect that to get picked over to that extent, or blow up on that level."
The ward shrugged. "This city, right?" I nodded to him. "So how are things up there?"
"You were at Lung's escape, right?"
"Yeah, tried to stop him along with Armsmaster." He paused for a moment. "Is he alright?"
"Sort of. Last I heard he was out of critical care, but I don't know any more than that."
He nodded slowly. "Anything else you can tell me?"
I took a deep breath, and considered how to do this. Then I shrugged and just dove in.
"Around the time the Rig was attacked the ABB triggered a multi-state blackout. They have some new timing thinker who was able to coordinate it with Bakuda. Bakuda launched that bombing spree, but only the first wave was random. The rest were targeted or disruptive, then there were a series of heists. No idea how much they managed to land. When that was going on the Undersiders were trapped in some kind broadcast murder arena by Bakuda, Uber, and Leet. Also a bunch of ABB members. Oh, and they were conscripting civilians by putting bombs in their heads. That got nasty. I heard the rest of the Wards ended up holding off Oni Lee and the new thinker at the Forsberg Gallery. No injuries, but the place was basically leveled. In the Protectorate Velocity and Assault are out of commission. No idea what's happening with New Wave, except apparently Panacea's still in the Master Stranger tank. Sounds like the group is breaking up or something."
It took the cape a while to process all of that. "Uh, where were you in all of that?"
I sighed. "Tattletale called me in for help with the arena thing. It was a clusterfuck. Bakuda got away at the last minute along with Uber and Leet. I did what I could to mop things up, but it wasn't exactly my finest hour."
Weld looked down at his mangled state. "Yeah, well that seems to be going around. What happened with the Undersiders?"
I dropped my head. "Got them out. They're going to owe me for that, big time."
"Hey, what's your deal with them anyway?"
I looked up and smiled slightly. The Ward had a disarming personality. It was easy to feel comfortable around him and you could see how he ended up as the poster child for case 53s.
"This going to get transcribed for Protectorate circulation as well?"
He looked up at the swirling dome of pitch black sea water. I could tell he was suppressing a reaction to that, and not a particularly pleasant one.
"Wrong answer get me left down here?" It was said in jest, but there was some real concern behind those words.
I shook my head. "I'm not abandoning you, not after all this." I shook my head. "It's just the last time I thought I was doing the right thing it blew up in my face. And the time before that. And honestly the time before that as well. I'd just like to break that particular streak."
His expression softened. "Look, they make us swear an oath when we join, and I take that pretty seriously. That said, anything not directly linked to a parahuman felony might slip my mind."
I smiled. "So that would be association with the back robbery, sale of the knives, potential link to the knives, everything they tried to pin on me after Panacea, and now everything they're trying to pin on me after the rescue last night."
"What happened last night?"
"Got some of the conscripts free of the bombs in their head. When I made the offer a gang member objected and someone shot him over it. So apparently that's master suspicion." I looked at him. "Actually, you better get ready for that. It seems like I can't walk down the street in this city without someone claiming I'm the next Heartbreaker."
Weld shook his head. "That stuff? It doesn't have traction outside the city. Plus I'm immune to most master effects. Manton interaction."
"Lucky you." I paused. "I notice you never answered the question about those felonies."
That got a weak smile. "Okay, I'm not a lawyer, but you want my rough guesses on this stuff?"
"Best I've got so far. I'm not exactly flush with insight on this."
"Right." He pulled himself up, which made the damage more apparent and noticeable. "So, the bank thing? You weren't there. Might count as an accessory, particularly if you were in on the take."
"Definite no on that one." From my tone I sensed he believed me. "Just the sale of the knives."
He nodded. "Right, the knives." He was starting to absently gesture with his hands as he spoke. Considering the half dead state I found him in I was happy to see it. "Selling tinker tech is a weird legal area, especially if you're not doing it for a share of criminal proceeds. I've heard some nightmare stuff about the tax law around it, but for this it might get classified as illegal weapon sales, worst case."
I nodded, and I had the sense he was sugar coating things for me. Still, it was a nice contrast to the dire panic I'd heard about from Piggot.
"For the Panacea stuff..." He shrugged his shoulders. "The category of what counts as 'Assault with a parahuman power' is pretty broad, legally speaking. They could probably also charge you with trespassing, if they're feeling vindictive."
"So they'll charge me with trespassing?"
He made an irreverent gesture. "Possibly? Depends who's running the case. The main thing is if Panacea presses charges, or I guess her guardian. The thing is, since she's not mastered..."
"Panacea is mastered."
Weld sputtered over his words. "Sorry what?"
"Yeah, that's why the test was positive. I put some of it together with my thinker power and got the rest confirmed later."
"Again, sorry, what? You're saying you mastered her?"
"Fuck no." I couldn't keep the disgust out of my voice and the sharpness of it caused Weld to flinch back. "God fucking damn stupid..." I cleared my throat and turned to him. "Her sister, Glory Girl? She has an emotion aura. Panacea's been exposed to it for years, with a developing brain. That shit would mess anyone up. That's why she was setting off every warning light during the whatever test."
Weld seemed seriously taken aback. "Are you saying Glory Girl is a master? Her area is classified as a shaker effect."
I let out a slow breath through gritted teeth. "You know, I'm really starting to hate that classification system."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean..." I took a moment to center myself. "people take a system designed to define threat response and treat it like it can explain powers. The fact that a mental influencer has the same classification as someone who makes rock monsters or whatever should tell you that. You want Glory Girl's aura to count as a shaker? Fine. It's a shaker effect that can screw up someone's mind."
He seemed reluctant to concede the point. "Do you have any evidence..."
"What evidence? It's constant mental alteration. You seriously think that's going to have no effect on a brain? People end up with serious disorders from periods of low sunlight. You think actually screwing with neural chemistry is going to be less serious?"
Weld was looking at me critically and I realized how much passion I had inadvertently put into my statements. I took a couple of deep breaths and forced myself to calm down.
"You have a history with that kind of thing?"
"Not anything worth getting into."
Thankfully he took the hint and decided to try to pick up the thread where we'd left things off.
"Okay, so Panacea is a mess. Might get an assault charge out of it, depends on the healing effect you used." He paused slightly as if waiting for me to offer information. When I didn't he pressed on without missing a beat. "As for the rescue, probably won't stick."
"There was a lot of property damage in the fight."
"Trust me, that happens. It's nothing the cape community hasn't seen before."
I shrugged. "If you say so."
Weld seemed to pick up on my reluctance and changed the subject.
"So, Armsmaster told me about the knives you made." I nodded along. "Samples he had disappeared right from his lab. He was convinced they were some kind of projection."
This was getting closer to a transparent attempt to extract information, but I just shrugged along. "Yeah, the broken ones do that."
Weld blanched. "What, seriously? How?"
"Tinker stuff."
"Right." He drew out the word as the Celestial Forge missed a connection with the Vehicles constellation. "That part of the sales pitch for the Undersiders?"
I shrugged again. "They knew what they were getting." Well not really, but it was more favorable to them, so they can't start complaining now. "It was a fair deal. If you're worried about me selling that stuff to anyone else I can assure you against that."
"You needed it to get set up, right?" His eyes drifted over my costume, motoroid, drones, and cutlass.
"You know how tinkering is. You've got a progression line from hunting for equipment at swap meets to the flying transforming motorcycle robot."
"I think it's a little more complicated than… Wait, motorcycle?"
I signaled Fleet and Weld watched the motoroid fold in on itself into the cape form of my motorcycle. With another signal it shifted back into robot mode.
"That's fantastic." He grinned slyly "Especially the sound effect."
I nodded. "Discharge from the servo capacitors. Happens every time it shifts between forms."
Weld blinked. "Seriously? That's part of the design?"
I nodded at him. "Inherent to the mechanism. I couldn't strip it out if I wanted to."
He seemed stunned. "That's just… Wow. I can't believe you designed something like that into the bike."
This was getting dangerously close to a blatant interrogation. Might as well see how far I can turn it in the other direction.
"So what did people think I was going to design? I mean the ones who weren't convinced I was a shaker."
Weld looked almost pained at the question. "To be honest, no one had a damn clue. They were throwing around everything from specializations in wavelengths, time reversal, nanotechnology..." I'm pretty sure that between my mask and deliberate lack of reaction I didn't give anything away. "smart matter, and even power emulation. Last I heard they still had no clue what you did with Khepri's weapons."
With that I must have shown some reaction. It was probably telling that Taylor related frustration was more significant than the potential of being exposed as using S-class technology. Weld leaned forward in response.
"What is the deal with Khepri anyway?"
I considered everything surrounding Taylor, then the significant smaller slice of that I could afford to talk about. Without thinking I let out a long sigh of frustration.
Weld's lips quirked. "That bad, huh?"
I returned the smile. "I didn't exactly know what I was getting into there."
"The thing with Aegis didn't tip you off?" It was said jovially, but there was a definite edge to it.
"Before that Aegislash there was no sign of that. Oh, and I still say that's on Aegis. The responce to being outnumbered five to one isn't supposed to be a mad final charge. He needs to learn to take the L."
"I'll give you that, but... wait, Aegislash? That Aegislash?"
"Oh, yeah. Apparently Khepri makes a habit of that. Bakuda didn't leave with all her limbs when she got away. Also, Lung has some kind of grudge against her. Don't know what caused that, but I doubt it's good."
Weld looked a little ill at the concept, and I was right there with him. He pushed against the bench and rose to his feet. "Sounds pretty serious. I really appreciate this, but it seems like I should probably get back."
The slight pleading tone was enough for me. "Sure, it's why I came down here anyway."
He gave me a sly grin. "Out of the goodness of your heart?"
"Please," I smiled behind my mask. "I'm a cold blooded mercenary. I was hired by a new tinker who wanted a chance to talk to a hero who hadn't completely blacklisted him. Trust me, I made him pay through the nose for the job. Just hope he doesn't end up regretting it." The last sentence came out with a touch of a hard edge, but Weld took it with good humor.
"I wouldn't worry about it." He glanced up at the dark swirling water. "What exactly is the plan for getting me out of here? Are we walking back?"
"No worries, I came here with five different options for getting you to the surface."
"Seriously?"
"Wasn't sure if there would be any problems with a specific one. Also brought four different healing technologies, just in case you were in worse shape."
"Four types?" He glanced down at his body, specifically the missing sections and jagged additions. "Uh, I don't have the best record with healing powers, but I would seriously appreciate it if you could do something about this."
"You do know that everything I do is master suspected? Do you want to end up in the tank?"
Weld took the threat of isolation remarkably well considering the circumstances. "I'm immune to most master effects, so it's not that much of a threat. Plus, this much corroded metal will take a couple of days to absorb. If you can deal with it for me, it's all out in the wash."
"You're serious about this?" My nanite healing could work here. Even with his body and metal absorption, that was an absolute power. I didn't have as much faith in Evermore Alchemy, Healing potions, or natural energy potions, but nanite healing could restore someone merged with a storage locker. It could sort this out.
Weld nodded. "Please. I don't have a conventional sense of touch, but this is actually really uncomfortable."
Cautiously I started to approach, then paused.
"What?"
"Just occurred to me. I've got a contract for healing tech active. I start giving it out for free and it'll piss off all my clients."
Weld's face fell. "Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I left my wallet in a lobster trap God knows how far back. Plus I don't exactly carry parahuman healer money."
"Most people don't." I looked at him. "How bout a trade?"
"What do you want?" His gesture suggested he wasn't in the best of bargaining positions.
I looked over his body. "You can shapeshift, right? Are you okay with a tissue sample? I want to get a better look at that living metal."
He actually smiled. "Not exactly difficult to come by." A blob started secreting from his chest. "Any time I get stuck to something too large to break I need to shed some of my body. It's not really a pleasant feeling." The metal formed into a sphere and I caught it before it dropped to the seabed. "As prices go, it's basically a souvenir." There was a gleam as he smiled. "Course, I still want that back if this doesn't work."
"Don't worry about that."
He nodded. "Great. So what next?"
"Well, first I put my glove on your shoulder." I placed a gloved hand over one of the few intact patches of Weld's costume.
"Then what?"
"Then you stay quiet while I fix you." As I focused glowing blue lines spread from my hand across Weld's body. It was the first time I had worked on a monstrous cape and it was an experience.
I didn't have an innate understanding of medicine or biology. I could sort of follow along from what my nanites did, where they went and what they fixed. In this case I had no fucking clue. I was dealing with something closer to an eccentric sculpture than a living being. Types of metals were separated by organs with actual gold used for nerves. There was both biological and mechanical function almost superimposed upon each other. It was an almost deliberately jumbled and confusing mess.
If I'd been trying to correct it myself I wouldn't know where to start. Fortunately I could just follow along as my nanites worked with their impossible medical skills. With no idea what to fix or where I flooded Weld's system and watched their progress. It was fascinating, informative, and disgusting all at the same time.
Once again, the external picture was less dramatic than watching the process from the inside. Slowly the gaps in his body began to fill in, blue lines spread over extruding pieces of metal, either absorbing them or shearing off the excess mass. Even the streaks and discoloration of absorbed impurities vanished, leaving a mirror polish in place of the previous swirls of metal.
When I pulled my hand away Weld was basking in the shock of his restoration. I was too deep in thought to enjoy his reaction. Instead I was stuck contemplating the nature of his body.
Weld wasn't supposed to look like this. This form wasn't a natural state, it was being enforced and facilitated by his powers, but not in an intelligent way. This entire shape was a mistake, an error of launch that had persisted past the point of correction. It was something my nanites were designed to correct, but stood at the very limit of my ability to do so.
"That was incredible." Weld grinned widely as he flexed his arms. Without the attached material he was more flexible and agile. I was still too deep in though to notice. It didn't take him long to realize something was off. "Apeiron? Is something wrong?"
"Yes." I answered without thinking. "And I don't know if I can fix it."
"What?" His voice was edging to panic as he closed the distance. "Fix what?"
"This." I gestured at him. At his clear confusion I continued. "Whatever made you like this, a Case 53. I'm not sure I can fix it."
A chorus of emotions played across Weld's face faster than I could follow, accompanied by stuttering gasps before eventually settling on two words "Fix it?"
I took a breath and faced him directly. "This type of healing is specifically designed to correct serious mutation and physical alterations. Alterations due to parahuman effects are harder, the causes are too varied. I don't know if I can do it."
"When." His voice pitched up on the word so he cleared his throat and tried again. "When did we talk about treating case 53 status?"
My eyes dropped to the sphere of metal in my left hand. "Well, you paid for healing. I'm just saying I might not be able to fix everything."
"But, something? That means you can fix something, right?" The hope in his voice was heartbreaking.
"I told you I don't know. The best I can do is try, and this is insanely complicated stuff to be…"
"Do it." His voice was dead serious.
"What?"
"Whatever you can do, do it now."
"Weld, this is experimental stuff. Even I don't know how this can go. Plus you're a minor under the jurisdiction of..."
"Getting approval from the PRT will be a nightmare. I'm not putting this off." He looked straight into my visor. "People look at me, they think I'm normal, that I'm fine because I look human. That couldn't be further from the truth. I can barely feel anything. I can't taste. It's like I'm a ghost in the world. I don't even sleep properly. If not for music I would go insane." His eyes darted back to the depression where I had found him.
It was close, so damn close to what I'd been dealing with. Sustained by nanites I could 'function' but not really live. It would let me stay in the lab forever, but no connection, no link to the world, I'd go insane.
I felt like this would bite me in the ass, but it was something I needed to do.
"Alright." His face lit up so bright it was almost painful. "I can't make any promises, but I'll do what I can."
He nodded and braced himself. I took a deep breath and rested a hand on his shoulder.
I had no idea if this worked. The lack of connections to the Magitech constellation meant my understanding of parahuman effects and how to manipulate them was middling at best. The only reason this had a slight chance of success was the extensive healing I had just performed and the fact that half of Weld's body operated on mechanical principles.
Particularly, without my Advanced Materials power this would have been hopeless. I was leveraging all of my knowledge of exotic material interactions, mechanical properties, and scientific principles. I was pushing my nanites to the limit of their capabilities, building experimental structures on top of experimental structures, reshaping the Ward's body over and over in a desperate attempt to find the thread leading to his normal form.
It took everything I had, and it wasn't enough. I could feel it slip away from me, the goal was just beyond my abilities. The minor, insignificant changes barely integrating into his form and the monument of my failure finally drove me to pull back.
Weld was staring at his hands. His metal hands on his metal body. The finish of his skin had dampened to a more matt texture than his usual gleam, but otherwise he was unchanged.
"What did you do?"
"I'm sorry." His head shot up to face me. "I couldn't fix it."
He ran a hand over one arm. "But… my skin?"
I took a breath. "I was able to push some nerves closer to the surface, and multiply them, but you have less than ten percent of the sensitivity a normal person would."
"And I can smell."
I nodded. "Sort of. I couldn't restore taste, just some of the nerves. And no changes to anything else. Really powerful scents will probably get through, but you probably won't be able to taste anything with less than three chilies next to it on a menu. Or Thai food."
"Thai food." He was practically crying. "I can live with Thai food."
"Look, I made some strong claims. I'm sorry I wasn't able to fix everything."
"No." He took a deep breath and seemed to be savoring the experience. A wide smile spread across his face. "But you changed everything."
Addendum PHO
Topic: Apeiron Medical Technology Discussion Thread
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brocton Bay ► Capes
PanPanFanFan (Original Poster)
Posted On Apr 17th 2011:
This thread is for the discussion of the medical technology displayed by the tinker Apeiron during the battle of with Bakuda and the alleged encounter with Panacea (rumored)
(Showing page 24 of 156)
►PanPanFanFan (Original Poster)
Replied On Apr 17th 2011:
With the clear demonstration of other technology there should be no reason to assume this is any different. The observed effect, while difficult to assess, has a clear technological indication. The prevailing theory is tinker tech, not power
►Blue Hatter
Replied On Apr 17th 2011:
So we're just assuming that a complete body restoration system can be stored with a plain leather glove? Or was some of his other gear pulling double or quadruple duty?
►Red Dead Bed
Replied On Apr 17th 2011:
Who cares how it works. What does he charge for it? I mean, the Undersiders were able to hire him. How bad could it be?
►MD PI
Replied On Apr 17th 2011:
Bad. Very very bad. Take a look at what Scapegoat charges sometime.
►Red Dead Bed
Replied On Apr 17th 2011:
Then how did the Undersiders hire him?
►Spritzer
Replied On Apr 17th 2011:
The thread's been over this. Basically it comes down to the old maxim.
Cash, Gas, or A**
►Irreverent Mook
Replied On Apr 17th 2011:
Right, and what if you're not rich, don't have tinker tech to trade, and aren't on a team with Lady Khepri?
►Spritzer
Replied On Apr 17th 2011:
Probably SOL
►Chillazard
Replied On Apr 17th 2011:
Guys! Apeiron has PHO account! I messaged him about what he charges for healing!
►PanPanFanFan (Original Poster)
Replied On Apr 17th 2011:
You and half the eastern seaboard. The thread has already covered this about ten pages back.
That account is either dead or a red herring. It's had one update to add an image and nothing else. Don't fall for that crap without a confirmed cape label.
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Jumpchain abilities this chapter:
Savvy Sultan (Macross) 400:
When people think of building things, they think of you. Provided you had the resources and the understanding of the technology, you could construct all manners of machines in a fourth of the time it would normally take. By yourself. You're no slouch with any of your tools either, wielding them with the precision of a machine with no loss of speed. Quality and a deadline? No problem.
Tinkerer (RWBY) 300:
You're a whiz at maintaining, modifying and making things. Everything from Sniper Scyfles to Toaster Ovens, as long as you made it yourself or had the blueprints on hand. Unlock the secret of Variable Weapon Crafting.
Aura (RWBY) Free:
You start off with an unlocked aura.
Dust (RWBY) Free:
Dust comes in four basic types: red fire, blue ice, green wind and yellow energy. They can be combined to make new variations.
After this jump, small amounts of Dust will appear in the Warehouse weekly. Enough for a firefight or two at once. Dust augmentation is found to increase the effectiveness of weaponry and ammunition.
Variable Weapon (RWBY) Free:
It's a thing that turns into another thing! One gun and one melee weapon, together at last.
Scroll (RWBY) Free:
Think a smartphone, with terrible wilderness reception, video camera, messaging and more! Practically a passport for civilized society.